Re: How do you hit 170 yards with 7 iron?

depends on a few variables... temp, wind, club loft, shaft, etc. i've hit a seven iron as far as 185 on a hot summer day with a breeze behind me to as little as 150 on a cold day with a face on wind. but my avg. length is 175 with no wind. it's not necessarily how fast your arms can swing, but what you can do with the club to make it travel faster. see, sergio garcia. if you come in with lots of lag and whip the clubhead through the hitting area with good contact, you'll get good distance. anybody can crack a whip at over 100 mph. just apply the same mechanics to your swing. i don't see any reason why the avg. golfer shouldn't get over 100 mph driver clubhead speed if he practices the right things.

Re: How do you hit 170 yards with 7 iron?

My usual 7i distance is 160, with a bad swing I'd say, so I have hit farther now and then.

It's like hitting it far with every other club, you gotta have a good swing. The speed not being that big a factor as good impact. Having a divot that starts behind the ball, bottoming out 3-4" in front of it is an important detail. The best ball strikers do this.

The average on the PGA Tour with a 7i is 172 yards of carry and 90 mph swing speed. Tour players are very good at hitting irons different distances. They can hit a long 8i or a short 4i on the same hole.

Re: How do you hit 170 yards with 7 iron?

Re: How do you hit 170 yards with 7 iron?

My routine distance with a 7 iron is 160 yards. If I play the ball back in my stance and go for it I suppose 170 is possible. My son, who drives the ball 310+ hits his stock 7 iron 175 yards with the a higher trajectory than my shot. So yes it is possible but with more swing speed than I can attain.

Re: How do you hit 170 yards with 7 iron?

The term "7 iron" is meaningless. TaylorMade and Wilson stamp "7" on the bottom of their 5 irons. Most other brands stamp a "7" on the bottom of their 6 irons. The original 7 iron was 40°. Today, a 7 iron can be anywhere from 40° to 30°. My 7 iron is 35°, and I try to hit it around 165 yards. I can hit it anywhere from 140-200 yards, depending on the situation. If my 7 iron had 40° of loft, I could hit it around 153 yards on average, and up to 192 max.

So, before you ask "how far?", ask first, "how long and how much loft?" I think you'll find the results surprising.

Re: How do you hit 170 yards with 7 iron?

Phil hit, at least tried, a 7i on a 202 yard par 3 on Pebble Beach. Granted he came up short, but Phil usually hits one club less than other long hitters. He is long, but his clubs could well be lofted stronger.

What matters in golf is hitting it well. Whether you have a 7i lofted at 40º or 34º, you can still play golf at a plus handicap. A golf set is about having no big gaps and knowing your distances with each club. If you hit your 7i like a 5i, that just means you'll need more wedges to fill the gaps you will have inside 130 yards.

If you hit the 7i 180, 8i 170, 9i 160, PW 150, GW 140, SW 130, LW 120, you got no stock full swing distance with any club within 120 yards. Which means you'll have to use the wedges to hit them with shorter backswing and more feel.
If you hit the 7i 140, 8i 130, 9i 120, PW 110, GW 100, SW 90, LW 80, you pretty much got it covered.

The long irons are meant to be used also. It is possible the pros use strong irons so they can use the shorter irons, being easier to hit, but they are also excellent with wedges, judging distances. On a round of golf, my usual second shot is from 100 to 180 yards, so within that distance I want to be accurate with my irons. Over 200 yards I might reach it with a 4i or hybrid, but it's a rare distance on the approach, or par 3.

"It's not how far you hit, it's how many you hit"

You often see players like Tim Clark, Steve Stricker and Tom Watson beating a lot of the long hitters like JB Holmes and Sergio Garcia on long courses. If you are really good, hitting it var is an advantage, but accuracy is and will always be most important.

Re: How do you hit 170 yards with 7 iron?

Deloft at impact. Graphite shafts is another option. Or like the person above said, choose the lowest lofted 7-iron and it should not be too hard. Many different ways to achieve 170 yards with a 7 iron.